'14 OH ATH Sam Hubbard (Ohio State Verbal)

[Luckylucci]

I love BK so don't take this the wrong way but sometimes I feel that he has a little bit of arrogance to him that gets in the way. This seems to be one of those situations.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I love BK so don't take this the wrong way but sometimes I feel that he has a little bit of arrogance to him that gets in the way. This seems to be one of those situations.

Hubbard's a project. Can't really fault the staff for not pursuing him since we know so little by comparison.

 

[koonja]

So confused. He plays Lax for us but is now playing football?

 

[Luckylucci]

He's a Lax commit that wants to play football in college and now a lot of big time programs are offering him for football. The thought is if ND doesn't offer him a football schollie then he'll be playing football on Saturdays for standford, OSU, Michigan etc.

 

[ErieIrish13]

I do believe he will get an ND offer. I just don't know when. You have to think the ND lax coach has spoken to Kelly about this kid, or will soon, now that Sam has said he's going to play football in college.

 

[koonja]

Is he playing Lax, too? If so, what's his sport of focus? A lot of players come into college thinking they're going to play two sports, and they never end up doing the 2nd sport.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I do believe he will get an ND offer. I just don't know when. You have to think the ND lax coach has spoken to Kelly about this kid, or will soon, now that Sam has said he's going to play football in college.

Not so sure about that. IrishLax thinks that ND's Lax coaches have no idea how big time football recruiting works. We can't assume that Hubbard is even on Kelly's radar yet.

Is he playing Lax, too? If so, what's his sport of focus? A lot of players come into college thinking they're going to play two sports, and they never end up doing the 2nd sport.

His recent quotes indicate that he'll be focused on football. He also seems to be very serious about his academics. I'd be surprised if he tries to play two sports in college.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Not so sure about that. IrishLax thinks that ND's Lax coaches have no idea how big time football recruiting works. We can't assume that Hubbard is even on Kelly's radar yet.

Plus if the kid has no intentions of playing Lax in college anymore, what's in it for our Lax coach?

 

[STLDomer]

From the info PANDFAN provided the staff has to know about him

 

[IrishLax]

Is he playing Lax, too? If so, what's his sport of focus? A lot of players come into college thinking they're going to play two sports, and they never end up doing the 2nd sport.

To recap, he's an elite lacrosse player (Top 30 overall) and has been committed to ND for some time for lacrosse. Originally, it looked like he would only play lacrosse in college. However, he has quickly started blowing up for football after his junior film got out. Has football offers now from Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Stanford, etc. All of these offers have come in the past month or so.

He is/was a very raw prospect (because unlike a lot of kids who are all-in for football he's devoted a ton of time to lacrosse both in season and out of season) who I originally thought had almost no chance at an offer. But his junior tape is a big step up and after his HS coach sent it around he has immediately gotten an offer from every school he wanted (Stanford, Michigan, Ohio State)... except for Notre Dame.

He is a typical "big skill" athlete who is - more or less - a bigger, faster, more athletic Danny Spond. In another year, he would probably get an offer from ND... but I have no idea what's going on now. Depending on how LBs/Safeties shake out and move around he might land an offer... Prosise to WR possibly opens up a spot. The kid is so big and versatile he has been offered for everything from DE to LB to S to TE. It does, frankly, **** me off that we've given offers to people like John Turner but aren't recruiting a kid with as much versatility and upside as Hubbard. Hubbard is a 4 prospect by every service that has rated him so far off his new film. Maybe Kelly simply doesn't want a guy who is going to play 2 sports.

Urban has been recruiting him hard recently and he has mad multiple visits to Ohio State. Unless our football coaches pursue, it's hard to turn down a full ride and ability to play both sports he likes for no ride and the sport without big $$$ pro potential. I would expect a flip to Ohio State if things keep trending how they are.

 

[IrishLax]

My understanding is that he'll still try to play 2 sports. There is also no way our staff hasn't at least heard about him based on the quotes from him and his HS coach. But our staff has frankly not shown any interest to this point... probably because we're full up at DOG/S except for maybe a truly elite guy.

Hubbard isn't the first guy to have something like this happen. Greg Pyke was a Top 20 lacrosse player who opted to forgo lacrosse entirely to focus on football. But Hubbard's situation is different because with Pyke as an OL it's not like he could effectively play lacrosse at 320+ pounds... whereas you can definitely play lacrosse at 6'6" 240.

Again, it's annoying because there is no way he wouldn't be a good add to the team the same way Deeb is for sure going to be a positive influence. He's very smart, hardworking, versatile, etc.

But w/e let's chase some more players who aren't local and have academic/maturity issues.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

From the info PANDFAN provided the staff has to know about him

That's a good point, but I doubt one phone call from a high school coach is enough to assume that our staff is aware of Hubbard. They probably get hundreds of such calls every week.

However, he's currently committed to ND to play a different sport and is blowing up with offers from other top programs. Unless our staff truly pays no attention to general recruiting news, they've got to know by now... no?

Plus if the kid has no intentions of playing Lax in college anymore, what's in it for our Lax coach?

Maybe Kelly simply doesn't want a guy who is going to play 2 sports.

Urban has been recruiting him hard recently and he has mad multiple visits to Ohio State. Unless our football coaches pursue, it's hard to turn down a full ride and ability to play both sports he likes for no ride and the sport without big $$$ pro potential. I would expect a flip to Ohio State if things keep trending how they are.

Conflicting info here. Is he truly planning on trying to be a two-sport athlete? I know OSU fans think that gives them an edge, but the "I'm focused on football now" quote and his alleged academic priorities make me question that. Athletes that are serious about school don't usually try to make the two-sport thing work (for good reason, imo).

 

[IrishLax]

Conflicting info here. Is he truly planning on trying to be a two-sport athlete? I know OSU fans think that gives them an edge, but the "I'm focused on football now" quote and his alleged academic priorities make me question that. Athletes that are serious about school don't usually try to make the two-sport thing work (for good reason, imo).

No idea. The situation seems to evolve daily. But I know Urban told him he could play both and I would lean towards him doing more of a Will Yeatman than Greg Pyke. It's actually quite easy to play both football and lacrosse (assuming you aren't playing a position like OL/DL AND you have understanding coaches) because the seasons don't overlap.

Fowler for Duke currently plays both sports and is a big contributor for both football/lacrosse. Virginia over the years has turned multiple reserve RBs into serviceable defensive midfielders. UNC has a WR who also plays lacrosse midfield. All three of those schools (well...... except maybe UNC with their whole academic fraud thing....) have very strong academics. If people can pull it off at Duke, I assume they can pull it off at Ohio State.

It works out because you basically skip spring practice for football and 'fall ball' for lacrosse with no overlap of the regular seasons.... so there is no increase in time commitment from playing 2 sports.

 

[TerryTate]

NSIAP - Plans are in the works to get him to campus to meet the football staff.

According to TJ, he's a possible OLB/S/TE prospect.

 

[koonja]

Thanks Terry.

Let's say we want this guy at OLB. How how on our list would he be?

 

[STLDomer]

NSIAP - Plans are in the works to get him to campus to meet the football staff.

According to TJ, he's a possible OLB/S/TE prospect.

Nice

Thanks Terry.

Let's say we want this guy at OLB. How how on our list would he be?

We have almost no DOG prospects so pretty high

 

[Rack Em]

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but this is a Cincy kid. This is Kelly's backyard and usually fertile recruiting territory for ND.

 

[Luckylucci]

Some positive developments are definitely welcome!

 

[TerryTate]

Thanks Terry.

Let's say we want this guy at OLB. How how on our list would he be?

They're still evaluating him. Not sure if an offer is coming. It's possible

 

[rtrn2glory]

i feel bad for these dudes that desperately want an offer from ND, but are left hanging, but then again they have some options so it's hard to feel too bad for them.

i like this kid and he'd be a great DOG prospect, especially since we seem to have whiffed on D Bates...i think the big issue would be with him playing lacrosse personally. big difference in physicality to baseball and it would be tough for his body to hold up through a football and lacrosse season

 

[STLDomer]

Decommitted from ND Lacrosse.

Visiting Michigan April 6th

 

[IrishLax]

The first decommit in the history of lacrosse. Probably not actually, but the first I've ever seen/heard of.

 

[rtrn2glory]

atleast we now know where his heart stands...dude wants to play football in college.

now the staff knows what they need to do to get back in it.

i'm still assuming that if we offer for football we'd be in super shape, but who's to say

 

[IrishSpartan]

Knew this was coming and I don't see Kelly offering him due to his position.

 

[koonja]

If our football staff wants him, you have to like our chances. He's already shown that he likes ND enough to commit to the LAX team. He's familiar with ND and what it offers. I assume he's been on campus. If we want him, I like our chances. Hopefully he makes a football-specific visit.

 

[Emcee77]

The first decommit in the history of lacrosse. Probably not actually, but the first I've ever seen/heard of.

That's really interesting. I wonder why the culture is so different. Is it that lacrosse players are more likely to be privileged kids with better support systems that help them make the right decision in the first place? Just speculating; I know nothing about lacrosse. I'd be curious of your thoughts though.

 

[IrishSpartan]

That's really interesting. I wonder why the culture is so different. Is it that lacrosse players are more likely to be privileged kids with better support systems that help them make the right decision in the first place? Just speculating; I know nothing about lacrosse. I'd be curious of your thoughts though.

As someone who went through the process for it I can say that it's completely different. First off it all comes down to money the school gives the recruiting department to recruit. Due to the lack of a large budget lacrosse players don't receive tons of offer because the schools are so selective. I had 7 offers myself, but only was really "recruited" by two schools. Meaning them visiting me and me visiting them. So basically it's a more relationship based recruitment and usually first one wins due to lack of 30 or more offers that football players receive.

 

[IrishLax]

That's really interesting. I wonder why the culture is so different. Is it that lacrosse players are more likely to be privileged kids with better support systems that help them make the right decision in the first place? Just speculating; I know nothing about lacrosse. I'd be curious of your thoughts though.

There are 3 pretty distinct reasons:

1. There is no viable pro-league to make big $$$ so kids are far more concerned with what school they are picking for the education/career prospects than anything else. Playing in the MLL or NLL will pay your bills but it pales in long term comparison to what you could make as a driven professional with a good degree.

2. Kids commit very early, quite often as young as a sophomore in HS and most by their junior year. After that, you basically don't think twice about it unless you don't have the grades to get into the school you committed to or maybe there is a coaching change.

3. Unlike football, there is no media circus, fan interaction, etc.... but more importantly, coaches actively don't try to poach. When a kid picks a school the other coaches say "good luck" and leave it at that. You don't have to "keep recruiting" kids and you don't have to worry about a rival coach blowing up his phone with texts & calls or sending him 100s of letters a day or countless Facebook messages trying to get him to flip.

I'm sure there are examples of kids who maybe committed to a DIII school or a place like Vermont and then "blew up" and got offers from Virginia, Duke, Hopkins, etc. and switched their commitments. But I really can't think of a single example, and due to point #3 even those would be a rarity.

 

[Emcee77]

Thanks for the responses, guys. It sounds like the culture is just totally different because there is less at stake financially for the schools and the players. Very interesting.

 

[PANDFAN]

Now that I have all those offers -- I love both sports -- but football is a lot bigger stage and is a full scholarship as opposed to a partial scholarship. It was a really tough decision because I love Notre Dame and Notre Dame lacrosse, but I feel like I made the right decision for me.”

Ohio State has mentioned the opportunity to set up a meeting with the lacrosse coach, but I’ll probably just play football and see how my grades are doing from that point,” Hubbard said.

“My sister is a senior at Ohio State. She’ll tag along, too. I’ll be sitting down with Coach [Urban] Meyer and watching practice. I’m meeting with the president of the university, which will be cool, and getting to know everything better. It’s real exciting. I have a lot of people interested in me. I’m weighing all options.”

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